


i'll be home before you know it

by blackquill (lostpoems)



Category: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Angst, F/M, Long-Distance Relationship, Romance, Sort Of, i love miya, irithel is leaking footages of her own movie, lancelot cares more about the mirror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 19:24:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14575932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostpoems/pseuds/blackquill
Summary: Lancelot is an actor and, well, he has priorities.





	i'll be home before you know it

**Author's Note:**

> just a little angsty-cringe-romance with the royal couple. set in au. enjoy!

Odette doesn't hear from Lancelot first.

She happens to be out shopping with heavily-guised Irithel, aka her celebrity bff, what with Christmas just being two weeks away, when she sees a scarf knitted with red high quality material. She can already imagine him wearing it on top of his favorite collared shirt-something she'd also gotten him for his previous birthday.

She thinks she's found the perfect Christmas gift until Irithel comes back to check why she fell behind.

"You're getting him that?" Odette looks at her friend and is about to ask for her approval when she notes Irithel's expression. Her smile disappears and she gives the scarf a once over.

"Is it... unpleasant?"

Irithel moves her hands dismissively. "Oh no, it looks lovely, but I don't think Lance would have any use for it in Hawaii... Although, okay, it could serve its purpose when he comes back." She says the last part as an afterthought.

Hawaii? "What do you mean?"

Irithel frowns at her, features eventually softening into comprehension. "I'm guessing you haven't talked?" Odette just stares, clueless about what she's trying to pertain to. Irithel lets out a deep breath before she tells her friend everything she knows about his upcoming move. Apparently, he has a movie shoot in Hawaii.

"You shouldn't have heard it from me," she adds, feeling a little guilty that she ratted out Lancelot when he could have had a perfect reason why he's delayed telling Odette about this certain project. On the other hand, it's justifiable, because his flight is scheduled in two days and he should have spoken to her about it by now.

Odette manages a small smile albeit the heavy feeling on her chest. "It's okay, thank you for telling me."

She breathes, repeats the same words to herself- _it's okay_ -and walks off a random direction, the scarf completely forgotten on the hanger.

 

 

 

 

They have dinner on her apartment the next day and while Lancelot seems to be enjoying himself ( _your cooking is the best_ , he says) Odette cannot find it in herself to feel the same. He's telling her how stressful was the massive workplace panic that transpired earlier-something to do with a drama queen co-star walking out of the set halfway into the shoot-and sure she's listening, but only half-listening, because she's busy figuring out how telepathy works (and if it's really a thing). She's been trying to send mental signals to him, to just crack up about his flight, just a little, tiny let on, but has failed since she started. So maybe it isn't.

After she's drank her water, Odette decides she cannot take this anymore.

"So when are you planning to tell me?" She interjects, cutting Lancelot off from whatever he was saying, because something just exploded, something like her anger. "Do you even plan to tell me at all?"

"What?"

She releases a sigh meant to calm herself down yet she's far from being one. "Your flight is tomorrow, Lance... tomorrow! Surely you didn't think this is something worth surprising me about, right?" She lets out a scornful chuckle. "Because if you thought it was then that just spirals everything to the ground."

"Odette..."

She avoids his gaze, tries to look anywhere but him. She feels her eyes burning and she's really, really close to crying, from frustration and separation anxiety. He hasn't left yet but it already feels like he has. And the fact that he decided to keep it from her until the last minute makes her feel even worse.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you."

"That what? That you're leaving for work? Lance, haven't I always been understanding? Why should it be hard for you to let me know?"

He can see that she's really upset and she has every right to feel that way, but even so, he tries to reach for her hand across the table and is relieved when she doesn't pull away. She's still not looking at him though. "Then extend your understanding on this one, please?"

He sounds pleading and truthfully, she's always had a soft spot for Lancelot. They've gotten into arguments before, nothing really serious, but all in all Odette can never spite him completely. Slowly, she turns to look at him and nods, her expression getting softer. "Alright, explain yourself."

"Just listen until I finish, okay?" Lancelot squeezes her hand before continuing. "So you've heard I'm flying off to Hawaii for a shoot. Irithel told me she told you, but I guess you've only heard about that and not the details of the project. Otherwise, your reaction would have been more..." he tries to think of the right word but can only come close, "violent?"

Odette frowns but keeps her mouth shut.

"We're shooting as early as December what should be a Valentine's movie special. It's a series of love stories. I haven't read the script entirely but I was given a run-through about what my character is supposed to be and such. They thought Hawaii would be a good place to shoot instead of the usual city of love and-"

"Get to the point, Lancelot." Odette impatiently says. She should really just let him finish but it's obvious that he's stalling for time, which is useless and just tiring.

"Rafaela is my leading lady." He bluntly finishes. When she thinks she's heard him wrong, he repeats it again, repeats her name, crystal clear. Odette stays still and tries to process this information. So... he's paired with Rafaela.

Rafaela, the ex-girlfriend.

Which shouldn't matter now because it's been years and this is just work,  _just work_ , she stresses to herself, but if she's going to be honest, it does, it matters.

She thought she could do this but she couldn't after all.

She releases her hand from his grip and starts to stand up slowly. When Lancelot moves to stand up too, she says first, "All the more reason you should have told me sooner."

"I could not go through this shoot if that's what it takes for you not to be angry anymore." Lancelot desperately says after her. He's wide-eyed and grasping for anything, just anything to not upset her further. She hears him take a step but what she needs the least right now is for him to get inside her personal space so she turns and gives him a warning look. He stops on his tracks but still calls out to her. "Please, Odette..."

"No, Lance. Not going through with this shoot won't solve anything. It'll be just selfishness on my part-me hindering your success. Be honest with me, you want this role, right?"

His face crumples into something akin to defeat and bitterness, because it's true, he want this. He didn't even consider his chances high although he's a well sought after actor in this age, but he was happy to have gotten it anyway. It boosts his ego, some kind of reassurance that he's good and talented and someone to be proud of.

Odette sees right through him. "So do it."

"I really want to do this, but not if it means setting a wall between us, and right before I leav-"

"Which brings us back to square one. You should have told me sooner." Odette tries her best to choke back the threatening tears, even when her voice sounded pained and betrayed. It shouldn't have been an issue had he let her know earlier, that's what she thinks. She catches a glimpse of the messy dining table but she can let the dishes sit there and just do them in the morning. She wants to be alone, fast, because she can only keep her tears at bay for so long. "Have a safe flight, Lance. And lock the door when you leave."

Odette enters her room and leans against the wall. She listens for a while, until after she hears the front door closes, before her tears finally fall from her eyes.

 

 

 

 

She wakes up the next day and the first thing she do is check her phone. There are six messages: two from a college friend and the rest were from Irithel. She ignores the first two and gets on to reading Irithel's messages.

⠀

 _lancelot appeared at the airport all grumpy he_ _wouldn_ _'t talk to anyone_

⠀

_did something happen?_

⠀

_you must still be asleep but i hope everything's okay_

⠀

_we're flying off soon. i'll text you when we land_

⠀

So he pushed through with it? Odette is unsure of what to feel. She hasn't been able to rest that well last night, she feels tired, too tired to feel anything yet. Although she's aware she told him to go do it-and he should-a message at least would have been appreciated. Her thoughts wander off until she remembers the mess in her kitchen so she decides to get up and start cleaning the house.

 

 

 

 

 

Odette almost misses it, only notices when she's done cleaning the rest of the house aside from the living room, which is stupid considering how big and daring the body mirror is that's standing in the middle of the room. When she does notice, she stands a good five minutes in front of it figuring out how it got there before things clicked. Of course, it's Lancelot. Must have snuck that in during the night but a mirror, really?

She checks for any notes but found none. She doesn't know why she even hoped to find one when he didn't so much as leave her a text message either.

She spends another five minutes thinking if she should move it somewhere less conspicuous but decides otherwise. It's not like she still dances or do workouts in her living room anymore anyway. So the mirror stays untouched like a monument in the middle of her almost empty living room.

 

 

 

 

Irithel calls her later that night to tell her that they're boarding a connecting flight in twenty minutes because seventeen hours for one flight is simply crazy.

She still doesn't hear from him but that's okay, Odette convinces herself, because she plans to spend the night binge watching chick flicks anyway, because what better to do than ruin yourself more when you're already in shambles with your boyfriend.

 

 

 

 

Lancelot finally calls her five days later.

And while Odette isn't angry anymore, only a bit sad he's waited this long to contact her, she keeps quiet and just listens.

He isn't talking much either, he's just making small talks; asking about her day and telling her a little about his. There's no story about what's happening there and she should be concerned, but she's not, because it's Lancelot she's talking about.

She keeps replaying in her head the video that Irithel sent her yesterday and before she knew it, she is smiling giddily again.

Irithel has said:  _I'm probably spoiling the movie for you but this is cute_  and  _don't ever leak this okay!_  and the video plays with Lancelot down on one knee on what seems like a proposal to Rafaela. Her throat constrict as she holds her phone tighter but then her breath catches when he speaks. "Will you marry me, Odette?"

She hears the director shouting over the speakers, how it's ridiculous, it's the third scene he's called Jennifer—that's Rafaela—another name, while Lancelot just stands there, bashful and apologetic.

"...mirror....?"

Odette hums in question when she catches the word _mirror_  but doesn't hear what he said because her mind is flying off somewhere.

"I said, have you been taking care of it?"

"Of what?" Odette frowns, eyeing the mirror that's across her from the couch. "The mirror?"

She hears him chuckle. It's warm and reminds her of home. She may be sitting inside her house but home for her is where he is.

But there he is, asking about a mirror.

"No, silly." Odette scoffs, which makes him laugh some more. "Have you tried looking at it?"

"Of course I have, you placed it practically in the middle of my living room."

"Where's the mirror right now?"

"Still where you left it."

"Can you go and look into it right now?"

"I can't believe you only called now and you're asking about the mirror." Odette throws said object a glare. "Lance, what is so special about this mirror anyway?"

He's chuckling again and how is it so easy for them to fall into place just like that? They were arguing before he left but now they're just laughing and maybe bickering a little, and she's glad they're fine, although Odette wonders what this is all about. Perhaps, it's one of his narcissistic pretense yet again.

He coax her into standing in front of the mirror, doubting if she's really done what she said she would— _yes, yes i am standing in front of now_ —before he asks her what she sees.

Odette groans. "Lancelot, it's a mirror. What else would I see if not myself?"

"That's my most valuable treasure." His voice has become quieter but she can feel he's smiling, the usual soft smile that never fails to warm her heart. "Have you been taking good care of that?"

She pauses. Her throat feels tight and before she knew it, she's crying again.

His tone changes into worry when he hears her sniff. "Hey, are you crying?"

"I..." She gulps in a huge amount of air. "I just miss you."

"I miss you too, honey." He breathes from the other line. "But I have to commit here. It's only for a couple of weeks. I'll be home before you know it." 

 

 

 

  

It's the day before Christmas and Odette hasn't planned anything except lie in bed or maybe start another painting but that would come later in the day. She isn't really expecting anyone to show up either because people thinks she'll be spending the day with Lancelot (which is obviously not the case). However, the ceaseless knocking on her front door begs to differ. She finally gets out of her bed before the other person decides to break down her door. 

She first sees Miya, who's all dressed up in what Odette would consider airport fashion. She knows because Miya has nagged her about fashion before but she's just not interested. But still she recognized it though and it becomes all the more evident when she notices the suitcase beside her foot.

"Are you leaving?"

" _Am I leaving?_ " Miya rehashes with a deep frown. "Odette,  _we_ are leaving. I can't believe you're still not ready even after I texted you a couple of times. And you're not answering any of my call so maybe this is to be expected." She continues as she is pulling her luggage inside and plops down on Odette's couch.

Odette stammers, guilty that she has neglected her phone but only because she didn't want to be reading season's greetings around this time. But, "What do you mean we're leaving?"

Miya shoots her a look like she is being crazy. Then waves two tickets at her. "The plane for Hawaii leaves in two hours. You better move before I luau by myself."

Then something clicks in her mind. She remembers a message from Lancelot a week ago, a certain  _Miya might come by next week_ , and maybe, just maybe this could be it.

Odette never knew she could bathe and pack all at once in such a short time. She must be talented, or simply put, magical.

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, Lancelot is in the airport when she arrives and although she would have hugged him by now, Odette takes the opportunity to drink in his appearance, his presence, and god she missed him so bad. "You planned this all along?" Lancelot grins. "You could have just brought me along in the first place!"

His grin grows into a laugh, "But where's the fun in that?"

Odette hits his arm, but she's happy, too happy to even care that they underwent an argument all for the sake of him surprising her to this extent. What do you expect, really? Lancelot doesn't settle for anything less than grand.

She's still staring at him, fumbling for anything to say because she has a lot to say but the first thing that comes is, "It's invalid."

Lancelot raises his brows. "What is?"

"You said you'll be home before I know it."

"Oh, that." He chews on his lip, sucks in his breath before smiling at her again. "Open your arms."

Odette frowns, tries to make a motion of how she understood his statement but his mouth twists a little as he command her to spread her arms wider. 

Confused but she obliges. Lancelot walks closer to her and wraps her arms around himself, letting himself be enveloped in her hug. She feels his breath on her temple—it's warm—and his lips are soft. "Now, I am home."

 

☂ ☂ ☂  

 

**Author's Note:**

> cross posted on lj and wp


End file.
